Football legend tackles social issues, coming to Birmingham

Rosey Grier, one fourth of the Los Angeles Ram’s “fearsome foursome” of the 1960s, was a 300-pound defensive tackle who moved from sacking quarterbacks to sacking social issues in the inner cities and urban communities of San Diego.
   
“Now I’m sacking the devil — want to knock that dude out,” he said in an interview with The Alabama Baptist.
   
Grier aggressively pursued quarterbacks as a powerful part of what would become a staple of football — the quarterback sack, according to CBS Sportsline.
   
Grier, a three-time Pro Bowl player in 1953, 1956 and 1960, was as much a sacker as his teammates, Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen and Lamar Lundy, who comprised a defensive line that created nightmares for quarterbacks. In those days, sack meant a bag for groceries until these four came along.
   
It was Jones who coined the term “sack.” He likened it to, “‘You know, you sack a city, you devastate it,’ ” CBS Sportsline states.
   
The Rams’ defense in the days of Grier was said to be one of the best defenses in football history, according to Sportsline.
   
But in 1968 Grier retired from  football, leaving behind a 12-year pro career split between the New York Giants and the Rams.
   
After football, he acted in at least 12 movies, including “Roots — The Next Generation Episode Four” in 1978 and “Reggie’s Prayer” in 1996, a theater motion picture release.
   
But his talents don’t end with football and movies. According to AEI Speakers Bureau in Boston, Grier’s singing talents are widely recognized and performance venues have included New York’s Carnegie Hall. He appeared regularly on the 1970’s TV shows, “Daniel Boone Show,” “Make Room for Granddaddy” and “The White Shadow.” He toured extensively with the late Bob Hope. Grier happened to be nearby and helped subdue Sirhan Sirhan at the Robert F. Kennedy assassination in 1968.
   
Ten years later he became a Christian. The year was 1978 and he was in his 40s. This was a year when two movies in which he acted, “The Glove” and “Roots — The Next Generations,” would be released.
   
“In 1978 I got depressed and was very lost; I could not make it anymore. I was totally out of it,” he said. “Some guy came over to me and told me about the Bible and that’s what changed my life. It made me know there was so much more. Then I heard a man teaching the Bible on TV and that moved me to make a decision for Christ. It showed me that the love of God was the thing.”
   
Some people might say that the 71-year-old Grier’s glory days are behind him. But Grier says, “I never had glory days; I just lived and did the best I could with what I had. What I was doing never meant that much.
   
“Jesus means everything to me,” he added.
An ordained minister, Grier has shared his faith on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. In 1992 he co-founded, along with businessman Estean Lenyoun, a non-profit organization now known as Impact Urban America. It is based in San Diego and serves the inner city there.
   
“When I was working with the gang kids I began to see that the real issue was the communities. If you don’t fix the community how could you expect the kids to be OK? Our organization brings the community groups, churches and politicians together to work out solutions,” he said. “Like in football, it takes a team to win.”
   
“We needed to find a place where we could set up a model, so San Diego was the model city for us. Our hope is that this will lead to showing other people how it can be done and then help them do the same thing in their communities,” he said. “We want people to be able to go out and fulfill their dreams.”
   
Inspiring people to fulfill their leadership dreams is part of the mission of the Augusta, Ga.-based  Center for FaithWalk Leadership, on which Grier is a member of the board of directors. On Nov. 20 Grier will be speaking at The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, during the organization’s first-ever Lead Like Jesus conference, combining music, drama, prayer and speakers. The conference will be simulcasted to 62 locations in the United States.
   
Co-hosting is Ken Blanchard, author of “The One Minute Manager” and Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life.” Speakers are Grier and Lenyoun;  William Pollard, chairman of ServiceMaster; Don Soderquist, a Wal-Mart executive for 21 years; James Blackwell, retired executive vice president of Lockheed Martin; Laurie Beth Jones, author of “Jesus CEO” and Dan Cathy, president and CEO of Chick-Fil-A. For information, visit www.thealabamabaptist.org or call 1-877-332-3911.